Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greeenscam

Norma Zager
Pelican Publishing (2010)
ISBN 9781589808102
Reviewed by Joseph Yurt for Reader Views (11/10)

 

Today, most Americans probably perceive Erin Brockovich as she was portrayed by Julia Roberts in the 2000 Hollywood movie “Erin Brockovich.” The film told a David and Goliath story of Brockvich, a young, divorced mother of three, unknown, unemployed legal clerk and environmental activist who battled big oil and the Beverly Hills and California state governments over claims of cancer causing chemicals beneath the ground on which the Beverly Hills High School athletic field was located. Brockovich helped her legal partners ultimately secure the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit.  It was the stuff movies are made of and it made Brockovich a household word.

Brockovich is described this way in her bio on her own website – “Say the name Erin Brockovich and you think strong, tough, stubborn and sexy…a true American icon.” Any mention of her passion for environmental stewardship appears elsewhere in the text. And, it is the question of just how really important “green” is to her – and which green – that has many people at odds with the popular perception created by the movie. Norma Zager, highly-regarded journalist and author of “Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam,” is definitely one of those individuals and she makes her case in a thorough, highly credible recounting of this epic litigation.

The trial went on for seven years, and Ms. Zager, drawing on her seemingly voluminous and detailed research, recollections, and documentation spanning the entire timeline of the case from start to finish, provides the reader with more than ample information to contemplate with regard to the true color of Brockovich’s green. The book works on one level as an entertaining mystery, although a bit hampered by the legal minutia, thanks to Zager’s story-telling acumen and the many faces and mystique of Beverly Hills.  It is also a fine piece of investigative journalism that has been crafted by the author to make the legal language as easy to understand as possible and tort law in action seem interesting and a bit of fun to read about.

“Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam” is a recommended read for a diverse, socio-economic audience. Most will find it engaging and stimulating. The final chapters challenge the reader to take more responsibility for their own environmental stewardship and offers ways to do so.

As for the real Erin Brockovich and her passion for environmentalism, I’ll leave you with this. On her official website to which I alluded previously, she now brands herself as a “consumer advocate” rather than an “environmental activist.” The bio concludes with her admission of one guilty pleasure – “shopping.” I suggest reading Norma Zager’s book, “Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greeenscam,” to connect the dots on the Queen of Green.

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